ABSTRACT
This article presents a comprehensive overview of the published literature on (i) what is believed and (ii) what is actually known about the characteristics that may contribute to people being good/effective investigative interviewers. It commences with a review of the beliefs concerning the particular abilities/skills that should be possessed by interviewers/investigators who are able to gain information from interviewees. Following this a review is provided of research on actual relationships between skills/abilities and information gain in interviews. Next is presented research on the beliefs of interviews themselves. The final part contains a review of individual differences in the ability to determine if interviewees are giving truthful or deceptive information.
